JP2020152523A - Sheet separating device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a sheet separating device capable of further stabilizing separability and deliverability in comparison with a conventional structure.SOLUTION: A sheet separating device which includes a placing table 110 on which a plurality of sheets can be stacked and a pickup member 120 for feeding a sheet S on the placing table, and can feed the sheet on the placing table one by one, further comprises an air supplying device for blowing air toward the front end in the sheet feeding direction from an air blow-out port 124C disposed in the front of the placing table in the sheet feeding direction, and a sheet floating prevention member 130 for preventing a part of the sheet separated from each other from floating by air blown from the air blow-out port. The sheet floating prevention member is inclined at a certain specified angle α from the sheet surface in a state stacked on the placing table, and the angle is formed in the direction of spreading with the air blow-out port side as the base point, and has an acute angle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet separating device and an image forming device.

Conventionally, a sheet separating device having a mounting table capable of loading a plurality of sheet materials and a pickup member for feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table and capable of feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table one by one has been known. There is. For example, the sheet separating device of Patent Document 1 is a device of this type, and air is provided from an air outlet provided in front of the above-mentioned stand in the direction of feeding out the sheet material toward the front end in the direction of feeding out the sheet material. Equipped with an air supply device that blows out.

Further, it also includes a sheet material floating suppressing member that regulates a part of the sheet materials separated from each other by the air blown out from the air outlet. Specifically, the sheet material levitation suppressing member regulates that a part of the separated sheet material is lifted on both sides in the width direction, which is a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction.

However, in the conventional configuration, further improvement in separability and feeding property is desired.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 includes a mounting table capable of loading a plurality of sheet materials and a pickup member for feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table, and the sheet materials on the mounting table are provided as one. In a sheet separating device capable of feeding out sheet by sheet, an air supply source in which air is blown from an air outlet toward the front end in the feeding direction of the sheet material in the above-mentioned stand and air blown from the air outlet are used. It is characterized by being provided with a sheet material floating restraining member that regulates a part of the sheet materials separated from each other from floating.

According to the invention of claim 1, the separability and the feeding property can be further stabilized as compared with the conventional configuration.

Perspective view of the sheet separator. An enlarged perspective view of the vicinity of the pickup roller of the sheet separator. Top view of the sheet separating device. Schematic diagram of the sheet separating device. An enlarged view of a part of the sheet separating device. Explanatory drawing of the state in which the air of the sheet separating apparatus is blown. The schematic block diagram of the image forming apparatus to which the sheet separating apparatus is applied.

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a sheet separating device (sheet feeding device) suitable for handling a recording paper (hereinafter, also referred to as a recording paper or a sheet) used as a sheet material in an image forming apparatus will be described. .. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the sheet separating device 100. The sheet separating device 100 includes a mounting table 110 capable of loading a plurality of sheet materials and a pickup roller 120 as a pickup member for feeding out the recording paper on the mounting table 110, and the recording paper on the mounting table 110 is loaded one by one. It is possible to pay out to.

On the mounting table 110, an end fence 111 that regulates the rear end of the recording paper feeding direction (hereinafter, feeding is referred to as transport or feed, and that direction is referred to as feed direction or transport direction) and a direction perpendicular to the transport direction. Side fences 112 that regulate both ends of the sheet (recording paper) S corresponding to the above in the width direction are provided. The side fence 112 is provided with side paper floating suppressing portions 112A as sheet material floating suppressing members on both sides in the width direction. The side paper floating restraining portion 112A is formed so as to extend from the upper portion of the side fence 112 toward the center side in the width direction by a predetermined length.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the vicinity of the pickup roller 120. The pickup roller 120, the feed roller 121 that further conveys the transmitted recording paper, and the reverse roller that is rotationally driven via the torque limiter in the direction of contacting the feed roller 121 from below and returning the recording paper to the pickup roller 120 side. The 122 constitutes a well-known so-called FRR paper feed type separate feeding unit. The pickup roller 120 is supported by the swing arm 120A.

Of the front wall portion that abuts the front end of the recording paper on the mounting table 110, the front wall plate 123 that constitutes a portion corresponding to the pickup roller 120 or the like in the width direction is bent by two bending portions 123A from the vertically extending portion. It extends downstream in the feed direction. The lower guide plate portion 123B is formed by the portion extending to the downstream side. The upper part of the reverse roller 122 protrudes from the opening 123C formed in the lower guide plate portion 123B. The space between the two bent portions 123A is inclined so as to be higher in the downstream direction in the feeding direction.

On both sides in the width direction with respect to the front wall plate 123, there is a front wall surface 124 that also extends vertically, and a bent portion 124A is formed on the upper portion thereof, and the inclination is the same as between the two bent portions 123A on the upper portion of the front wall plate 123. The inclined upper surface 124B of the above is formed. An air outlet 124C from the air duct 125 is opened on the inclined upper surface 124B. Further, front paper levitation suppressing portions 130 are provided as sheet material levitation suppressing members on both outer and outer sides of the pickup roller 120 in the width direction. The front paper floating suppressing portion 130 includes a first inclined portion 130A, a second inclined portion 130B, and a rising portion 130C in this order from the downstream side in the feeding direction, and is formed so as to extend to the upstream side of the upper guide plate. Specifically, the position in the width direction of the roller such as the pickup roller 120 of the upper guide plate 131 escapes and is connected to the upper guide plate portion 131A located on both sides thereof, and extends upstream from the upper guide plate portion 131A in the feed direction. Is formed in.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the sheet separating device 100. The front paper levitation suppressing portion 130 extends to the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the housing side plates 100A of the sheet separating device on both outer sides in the width direction with respect to the pickup roller 120. The outlet 124C is provided at two locations on each side of the pickup roller 120, for a total of four locations. The front paper floating suppressing portion 130 is provided so as to be located above the outlet 124C.

Both ends of the front paper floating restraining portion 130 in the width direction are fixed to both side plates 100A of the housing. For example, the front paper levitation restraining portion 130 is fixed to the elongated holes 100B formed in the both side plates 100A of the housing with screws 130D. By changing the fixed position in the longitudinal direction in the elongated hole 100B, it is possible to adjust the inclination angle of the front paper floating suppressing portion 130. When the front paper levitation suppressing portion 130 is integrally configured with the upper guide plate 131, the posture of the upper guide plate 131 also changes as the inclination angle of the front paper levitation suppressing portion 130 is changed. If it is desired to avoid this, the connecting portion between the two may be configured so that the angle can be changed so that the angle between the two can be changed, or they can be fixed separately.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a main part related to separation and feeding of sheets in the sheet separation device 100 of the present embodiment. The mounting table 110 rotates from the rotation fulcrum 110A as a starting point, or raises the mounting table 110 horizontally so that the sheet S comes into contact with the pickup roller 120 and can be fed. Air is supplied to the duct 125 constituting the air chamber from the fan 125A as an air supply source, and is arranged so as to hit the upper part of the loading paper of the sheet S through the outlet 124C at the upper part of the duct 125. The air supply device is composed of a fan 125A, a duct 125, an outlet 124C, and the like. In order to prevent the recording paper that has floated due to the air from the outlet 124C from being blown away, in addition to the side paper floating restraining portion 112A, the front paper floating suppressing portion 130 that regulates the floating is provided, which is a feature of the present embodiment. Is.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the front paper floating suppressing portion 130 of FIG. The side paper levitation restraint portion 112A and the front paper levitation restraint portion 130 regulate the buoyant paper from being blown off, but the side paper levitation restraint portion 112A and the front paper levitation suppression portion 130 are parallel to the paper surface or at an angle α. There is a difference whether you have. The side paper levitation suppressing portion 112A is parallel to the paper, whereas the front paper levitation suppressing portion 130 has an angle α with respect to the upper surface of the loaded paper (the loaded paper that is not lifted by air). Specifically, the lower surface of the second inclined portion 130B that comes into contact with the upper surface of the surfaced sheet S and regulates further levitation has the above angle α. The angle α is set in a direction that spreads when the air downstream side is viewed with the air outlet 124C side as a base point. Desirably, the angle should be sharp.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which air is blown. The front paper levitation suppressing portion 130 has not only the effect of the paper levitation presser but also the effect of receiving the air blown out from the air outlet 124C and changing the direction of the air. By doing so, it is possible to send air substantially parallel to the paper, and it has the effect of correcting the direction of the air to a direction in which the paper handling effect is excellent. When separating the sheet material with air, the separation effect can be expected if the air escapes in parallel with the paper.

The angle α depends on the shape of the flow path of the duct 125 and the arrangement and size of the air outlet 124C, but it is desirable that the angle α is an acute angle. If the angle is obtuse, it is difficult to obtain the effect of the paper floating presser, and the effect of correcting the air direction from the air outlet 124C is also small.

In order to obtain the effect of receiving the air and changing the direction of the air, it is necessary that the material and structure of the front paper floating suppressing portion 130 do not allow the air to pass in the thickness direction. It is not necessary to adopt such a material structure when the effect of changing the direction of air is not expected only for the regulation effect. If the regulation effect can be exerted, the paper itself whose floating is restricted can exert the function of guiding the air entering between the paper and the paper below it. Even in the guide provided by the paper itself, the inclination of the angle α of the front paper floating restraining portion 130 is effective in regulating the posture of the paper. Therefore, if the air guide function is sufficient, or if the air guide function is not expected in the first place, it is not necessary to use a material or structure that does not allow air to pass in the thickness direction.

In the above embodiment, the air outlet 124C is arranged so as to blow out air toward the front end in the sheet material feeding direction, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the air outlet 124C is directed toward the rear end in the sheet material feeding direction or toward the side side. It can also be applied to devices that do. That is, in the case where the air outlet is arranged in the vicinity of the sheet material so that the air can be blown toward the end face of the sheet material, the floating of the paper can be satisfactorily regulated by similarly providing the angle α. .. The angle α when provided on the side is also an angle in the direction in which the air downstream side is viewed from the air outlet 124C side as a base point, and is preferably an acute angle.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus to which the sheet separating apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied. The document D is transported (fed) in the direction of the arrow in the drawing by the document transport unit 10, passes over the document reading unit 2, and the image information is optically read by the document reading unit 2. An exposure light L such as a laser beam based on the read image information is emitted from the exposure unit 3 (writing unit) onto the photoconductor drum 5 of the image forming unit 4. In the image forming unit 4, an image (toner image) corresponding to the image information is formed on the photoconductor drum 5 through a predetermined image forming process (charging step, exposure step, developing step). The formed image is transferred by the transfer unit 7 onto the sheet S conveyed from the feeding device. The toner image of the sheet S after the transfer step is fixed by the fixing device 20, and the sheet S is loaded on the paper ejection tray 31.

A plurality of feeding devices 12 and 13 are provided in the device main body 1. These have almost the same structure. The feeding device 13 is provided with a mounting portion 43 (elevating plate), a feeding mechanism 52 as a feeding means for feeding the sheet S mounted on the mounting portion 43, and the like. The sheet separating device of the present embodiment can be used as the feeding devices 12 and 13.

In addition, a device using an air blowing device such as the sheet separating device according to the present embodiment has the following advantages as described in Patent Document 1. The sheet feeding device included in the image forming apparatus includes a sheet mounting member (bottom plate). Sheet materials (paper) such as recording paper loaded on the bottom plate are separated one by one when they are fed toward the image forming portion. However, one of the separated papers is coated paper and art paper, and these papers have good surface smoothness, low breathability and hygroscopicity, so that the adhesion between papers in a high humidity environment Tends to increase. For this reason, it is more difficult to separate the paper than paper such as plain paper, and double feeding and continuous feeding are likely to occur frequently.

Therefore, as a method of reducing the adhesion between papers, there is a method of blowing air toward the end. According to this method, air can be blown onto the end faces of the paper at a pressure such that the paper does not adsorb to each other to separate the paper and handle it.

In addition, it has a structure that regulates a part of the paper separated from each other by the air blown out from the air outlet so that it will not be turned up or blown off when the sheet material is lifted. It has become. Since the air blowing direction is also applied from the direction perpendicular to the end face of the sheet material to improve the handling efficiency, the effect is improved by installing the paper floating presser parallel to the paper or the bottom plate, and the separation of the sheet material is ensured. Can be done.

However, in the apparatus of Patent Document 1, the paper levitation presser member is installed parallel to the paper and the bottom plate, and the effect of paper handling cannot be maximized unless air is blown perpendicularly to the paper. There is. This can be solved by providing the angle α as in the sheet separating device of the present embodiment.

In addition, the sheet separating device according to the present embodiment also has the following advantages. In most cases, the conventional paper levitation presser is installed parallel to the bottom plate or the paper. This is because, in addition to the effect of the floating presser of the sheet material, when the sheet material is separated by air, the separation effect can be expected if the air escapes in parallel with the paper. If the paper and the paper pressing member are installed in parallel, the floating paper can also come into contact with the paper floating retainer and blow air at a right angle to the paper end face.

However, the air blowing means for blowing air cannot always be installed horizontally on the edge of the paper. If the air blowing means is arranged at the horizontal position of the paper edge, the overall configuration of the product becomes large, which affects the compactification of the product. Therefore, it is conceivable that the air blowing means can be installed only below the edge of the paper (the direction in which the upper part of the loaded paper is blown up), but in that configuration, the air does not hit the edge of the paper horizontally, so the paper handling effect cannot be expected. .. Rather, it may even lift the paper on top of the loading paper in a bundle, raising the risk of double feeding.

In the sheet separating device according to the present embodiment, even when the air outlet 124C is below the paper edge (direction that blows up the upper part of the loaded paper), air is blown to the paper edge by providing an angle to the paper floating retainer. It can be expected that the angle will be adjusted to the maximum and the paper handling effect will be maximized.

100: Seat separator 100A: Both side plates of the housing 100B: Long hole 110: Mounting stand 111: End fence 112: Side fence 112A: Part 120: Pickup roller 120A: Swing arm 121: Feed roller 122: Reverse roller 123: Front Wall plate 123B: Lower guide plate portion 123C: Opening 124: Front wall surface 124A: Bending portion 124B: Inclined upper surface 124C: Air outlet 125: Air duct 125A: Fan 130A: First inclined portion 130B: Second inclined portion 130C: Rising Part 131: Upper guide plate 131A: Upper guide plate location S: Recording paper α: Angle

JP-A-2002-104679

Claims (7)

In a sheet separating device provided with a mounting table capable of loading a plurality of sheet materials and a pickup member for feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table, and capable of feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table one by one.
Separated from each other by an air supply device that blows air from an air outlet provided in front of the above-mentioned stand in the direction in which the sheet material is discharged toward the front end in the direction in which the sheet material is discharged, and an air blown from the air outlet. A sheet separating device provided with a sheet material floating restraining member that regulates a part of the sheet material that has been lifted. The sheet separating device according to claim 1, wherein sheet material floating suppressing members for restricting a part of the separated sheet material from floating are provided on both sides in the width direction, which is a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction. .. The sheet material levitation suppressing member is inclined by a certain angle from the seat surface in the loaded state on the above-mentioned stand, and the angle is an acute angle in a direction spreading from the air outlet side as a base point. The sheet separating device according to claim 1. In a sheet separating device provided with a mounting table capable of loading a plurality of sheet materials and a pickup member for feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table, and capable of feeding out the sheet materials on the mounting table one by one.
An air supply device that blows air from an air outlet provided near the sheet material in the above-mentioned stand toward the end face of the sheet material, and a sheet material separated from each other by the air blown from the air outlet. Equipped with a sheet material floating restraining member that regulates the floating of a part of
The sheet material levitation suppressing member is inclined by a certain angle from the seat surface in the loaded state on the above-mentioned stand, and the angle is an acute angle in a direction spreading from the air outlet side as a base point. A sheet separating device characterized by. The sheet separating device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sheet material floating suppressing member is made of a material capable of guiding air. The sheet separating device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the sheet material floating suppressing member has a changeable inclination angle. An image forming apparatus including the sheet separating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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